Sport England
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New report shares tips to engage with specific audiences
The findings from This Girl Can’s new Couch to Fitness report are useful for anyone who’s seeking to help underserved communities get more active.
Our This Girl Can campaign has teamed up with Our Parks to produce a new report on their Couch to Fitnessprogramme.
‘Inspiring more inclusive physical activity interventions’ presents the learnings from the free nine-week exercise programme aimed at beginners, which was funded by us and built on the insight of This Girl Can (TGC) into the deep-rooted inequalities that persist in sport and physical activity.
It’s useful for anyone interested in creating ways to help underserved communities engage in sport and physical activity.
TGC worked with to develop the programme, which helps people build confidence in their ability to be active from the safety and comfort of their own home, with workouts available online and on demand.
The new report outlines everything they’ve learned and includes practical and creative ideas for building and promoting a digital offer for underserved communities.
The project was designed specifically to reach culturally diverse and lower socio-economic groups, who both had a greater increase in inactivity than White audiences during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Dani Ward, our campaign activation manager, said: "We’re excited to share the impactful journey of Couch to Fitness and the learnings gathered along the way.
"Partnering with Our Parks, Sport England and This Girl Can are proud to support a project that provides a free, beginner-friendly initiative, as well as offering valuable insights for projects committed to inclusivity.
"We hope this report encourages more grassroots projects to find creative ways to help more people get active, especially those audiences who remain underserved by our sector."
Whether you work in directly in sport and physical activity, the charity or voluntary sector, healthcare or marketing, you can read tips in areas such as digital product development, community building and targeted marketing.
Although we can't guarantee success from using the suggestions in this report, we hope they spark conversations and creativity into how they might work for organisations developing their own interventions.
As well as reading the report, you can join a webinar session. Our Parks are running several dates across September and October sharing more about the findings.
"We hope this report encourages more grassroots projects to find creative ways to help more people get active, especially those audiences who remain underserved by our sector."
Dani Ward
Campaign activation manager, Sport England
What is Couch to Fitness?
In 2020, Covid-19 lockdown restrictions were hampering physical activity levels among the public, in particular lower socio-economic groups and culturally diverse communities, specifically Black and Asian.
Sport England and This Girl Can asked Our Parks to develop Couch to Fitness, an expert-led, on-demand exercise programme with some key selling points:
- It is FREE – no membership or subscription
- Nine-week structured plan which builds in intensity
- Led by three experts on screen, each working at differing intensity levels
- Designed for beginners
- No equipment needed.
With their expertise of running free, inclusive park workouts across London and online, Our Parks were well placed to deliver the programme.
Since then, Couch to Fitness has continued to resonate with our target audience and improve activity levels for users.
Original article link: https://www.sportengland.org/news-and-inspiration/couch-to-fitness-report-tips-engage-underserved-audiences
